Method and device for brewing beer

ABSTRACT

A device for brewing beer, particularly a wort pan ( 1 ), with a container body ( 2 ) to receive a wort reservoir ( 3 ) the device containing an internal boiler ( 4 ) arranged in the container body ( 2 ), which is provided with a heat exchanger ( 5 ) and a guiding screen ( 8 ). A wort forced flow ( 10 ) provided with a pump is also provided, which runs through the boiler ( 4 ). In order to increase the efficiency of the device, the wort forced flow ( 10 ) has a thin-layer distributor ( 17 ) for the wort, which contains a pipe subsection ( 11   b ) connected with the pump, which subsection leads above the guiding screen ( 8 ) via an outlet opening ( 13 ) with reduced outlet cross-section into the container body ( 2 ). Above the outlet opening ( 13 ), a flow-guiding baffle surface ( 15 ) is provided, at which the flow arrives from below, to deflect the liquid towards the wort reservoir ( 3 ).

The invention relates to a device and a method for brewing beer,especially a wort pan of the type explained in the generic term of claim1.

A wort pan of this type is known for example from DE-C-43 04 383. Theknown wort pan contains a container body in which a so-called internalboiler is located to heat up the wort. The internal boiler is made as asteam-heated heat exchanger with vertically running passage ducts forthe wort, so that the wort rises upwards from the base of the containerthrough the heating in the heat exchanger. Above the heat exchanger, theinternal boiler contains an accumulation cone with a cylindrical outletpipe through which the thermoflow of the wort is bundled and conveyedupwards above the liquid level of the wort in the container body. Abovethe mouthpiece opening of the cylindrical outlet pipe, a guiding screenis provided in the form of a conical baffle surface which picks up thewort emerging from the cylindrical outlet pipe and diverts it downwardsagain towards the liquid level. The known wort pan contains moreover apipe with a pump for a forced flow of the wort in the container body,whereby the wort is drawn off out of the container body outside theinternal boiler and pumped back into the container body directlyunderneath the internal boiler. The area underneath the internal boilerand around the mouth of the pipe is shut off from the rest of thecontainer body, so that it is ensured that the wort passed by forcedflow through the pipe only enters the internal boiler and does notescape at the side into the container body. However, it has been foundthat the known wort pan can be improved yet further in terms of itsefficiency.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a device and amethod of this type with an improved efficiency.

Because of the thin-film distributor provided and arranged according tothe invention with its reduced outlet cross-section and the bafflesurface above it, the energy passed into the wort through the pump inaddition to the heat flow is used advantageously to feed the wort, inaddition to the normal wort cycle and the distribution by the internalboiler, into a second cycle with fine distribution through which, forexample, the steaming out of undesired flavours is further improved.

Admittedly, a thin-film distributor is already known, for example, fromWO 00/00583, but there it replaces the boiler.

Moreover, it is known for example from EP-A-605 783 that an internalboiler for a wort pan is provided with two wort guiding screens lyingvertically above each other, whereby the lower wort guiding screen isprovided with a centre opening through which the thermoflow caused bythe heat exchanger can enter upwards, so that two distribution bells forthe wort are formed, which, however, because of the relatively low flowspeed, are less effective.

In contrast, the mouth cross-section, reduced according to theinvention, of the pipe supplied by a pump ensures that a smaller volumeof the wort emerges at the same time from the mouth opening, the speedof which, however, is much higher than a pure flow of heat. In this way,the baffle surface creates a wort bell with a considerably smaller layerthickness, which greatly improves in particular the steaming out ofundesired flavours.

Advantageous further developments of the invention are described in thesub-claims.

Claims 2 and 3 describe structurally advantageous embodiments.

The additional infeed device according to claim 4 is particularlyadvantageous, since this increases the flow rate through the thin-filmdistributor and at the same time accelerates the flow through theinternal boiler, which increases the throughput and reduces fouling.This applies in particular for an automatic suction according to claim 5or 6, since in this way, the full throughput capacity is reached.

The form of the baffle surface is particularly important in relation tothe formation of the thinnest possible layer. Preferably, the bafflesurface should be already provided in the mouth opening, and from thereit runs, gently curved, at an angle upwards to the outside.

Shaping the mouth opening as a circular gap which can if necessary beadjusted in size also promotes the formation of a thin layer.

Claim 11 describes a particularly preferred method for brewing beer.

Embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail in thefollowing using the drawings. The following are shown:

FIG. 1 shows a wort pan formed according to the invention in a highlydiagrammatic illustration, and

FIG. 2 shows detail “A” from FIG. 1 in a section, and

FIG. 3 shows a further embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a device for brewing beer in the form of a wort pan 1,especially a whirlpool pan, as used for the manufacture and preparationof wort in beer manufacture. The wort pan 1 contains a normal containerbody 2 with side walls 2 a, a base 2 b and a cover 2 c which can be ofthe normal shape. In the embodiment illustrated, the container body 2has a circular cross-section and is erected with a vertical axis. Thecontainer body 2 holds a sufficient quantity of the wort reservoir 3.

In the axial middle of the container body 2, an internal boiler 4 ispositioned which, as is normal for these internal boilers, has a heatexchanger 5 and an accumulation cone 6. The heat exchanger 5 has a largenumber of pipes 5 a, which are installed with vertical axes and openends and are heated preferably by steam or hot water, whereby thedevices for supplying steam and other devices necessary for theoperation of the internal boiler 4 and the wort pan 1 are known and arenot shown here to give greater clarity. The pipes 5 a are arranged withtheir open, lower ends at a sufficient distance above the base 2 b andend with their open, upper ends underneath the liquid level 3 a of thewort 3 in container body 2.

In the present description, the terms “top” and “bottom” are definedwith reference to the direction of gravity in the installation positionof the respective device in operation.

The accumulation cone 6 has, in the present embodiment, a cylindricalarea 6 a, the lower edge of which has a larger diameter than the heatexchanger 5, so that there is, between the heat exchanger 5 and thecylindrical area 6 a of the accumulation cone 6, an opening 7, throughwhich wort can pass. The cylindrical area 6 a is continued upwardsthrough a conical area 6 b, which reaches to above the liquid level 3 aand then leads into a second cylindrical area 6 c which reaches from theconical area 6 b far enough upwards to bundle and even out thethermoflow of the wort from the heat exchanger 5. The cylindrical area 6c has the same cross-section between the conical area 6 b and its mouthopening 6 d. Above the mouth opening 6 d of the accumulation cone 6 andat a distance from it, one of the normal flow guiding screens 8 isprovided which is bent like a spherical calotte, i.e. near the axialcentre, has its highest point above the mouth opening 6 d and falls downon all sides with increasing radial distance.

The internal boiler 4, as it has been described so far, also functionslike a normal internal boiler, i.e. the heating in the heat exchanger 5sets up a heat cycle, i.e. the wort rises within pipes 5 a upwards intothe accumulation cone 6, is bundled there into a laminar flow andaligned and pressed through the mouth opening 6 d upwards against theguiding screen 8, which passes the heated wort in an outlet bell backinto the wort reservoir 3, as is designated by the arrows 9.Furthermore, a small proportion of the flow can leave the accumulationcone 6, also indicated by an arrow 9, through the opening 7, whichcreates additional turbulence in the wort reservoir 3. The flow alongthe arrows 9 forms the main flow inside the wort pan 1.

At the wort pan 1, a forced wort circulation 10 is furthermore provided,which comprises at least a pipe 11 and a preferably frequency-controlledpump 12. The pipe 11 emerges in the lower third in the area of the wortreservoir 3 from the side wall 2 a of the container body 2, runs viapump 12 and if necessary via a control valve 12 a (if the pump 12 is notfrequency-controlled) and is passed back in the axial centre regardingthe internal boiler 4 through the base 2 b of the container body 2. Thepipe 11 continues vertically upwards in the inside of the container body2 as a riser. If the forced flow 10 contains several pipes 11, these aretaken via a common pump and if necessary a common control valve into acommon riser. The riser contains a first pipe subsection 11 a, whichruns vertically upwards from the intake of the pipe 11 into thecontainer body 2 through the heat exchanger 5, and a second pipesubsection 11 b connected to it, which projects beyond the heatexchanger 5 and goes through the remaining internal boiler 4, i.e. theaccumulation cone 6 and the guiding screen 8 and projects beyond theguiding screen 8. Here, the second pipe subsection 11 b is open on theend to form an outlet opening 13 which is essentially horizontal.

Above the outlet opening 13, a guide device 14 is located with a bafflesurface 15 facing downwards. The baffle surface 15 dips into the outletopening 13 or begins there, near the axial centre of the outlet opening13 and rises from there, gently curved at an angle upwards and outwards,whereby the curve of the baffle surface 15 is formed in such a way thatnear to the outlet opening 13 the axial parts of the curve predominate,but that these decrease in the further course of the curve, until theradial parts of the curve predominate. In the outer edge region of theguide device 14 at its greatest radial distance from the centre line,the curve can show axial parts again, i.e. the outer edge of the bafflesurface 15 can be slightly curved downwards again. Preferably, thebaffle surface 15 can be formed as a rotation surface of a hyperbola- orparabola-type curve section.

The part of the baffle surface 15 dipping into the pipe subsection 11 bgives the outlet opening 13 directly at the upper edge of the pipesubsection 11 b a considerably decreased outlet cross-section, wherebythe outlet opening 13 becomes ring-shaped. The outlet cross-section ofthe outlet opening 13 can, if there is a corresponding curve in thebaffle surface 15, be adjusted in its size through an axial displacementof the guide device 14.

Through the pump 12, wort is sucked from the wort reservoir 3 via thepipe 11 and pushed into the riser, and, accelerated due to the reducingoutlet cross-section of the outlet opening 13 directly at the end of thepipe subsection 11 b, but reduced in terms of volume, is conveyed with ahigh level of energy against the baffle surface 15 so that the wort isdistributed there in the form of a thin-layer bell along arrows 16 andpasses again into the reservoir 3. The pump, the outlet opening 13 withreduced cross-section and the baffle surface 15 thus form a thin-layerdistributor 17.

The thin-layer distributor 17 contains furthermore an additional infeeddevice 18 which is also shown in FIG. 2. The infeed device 18 comprisesan area 19 of the pipe subsection 11 b with a reduced cross-sectionwhich is located below the liquid level 3 a in the wort reservoir 3 andwithin the accumulation cone 6. The area 19 with reduced cross-sectionforms a suction opening 20, which is covered towards the top by aconical apron 21, so that the suction opening 20 is only accessible fromunderneath at an angle, i.e. from the direction of the outlet pipes 5 aof the heat exchanger 5. In the embodiment shown, the pipe subsection 11b is divided into two to form the infeed device 18 and contains a lowerpipe piece 22, which forms the connection to the lower pipe subsection11 a and passes into the area 19 with reduced cross-section, and anupper pipe piece 23, which is arranged coaxially to the area 19 and runsas far as the outlet opening 13, whereby the pipe piece 23 essentiallyhas the same internal diameter as the riser in the first pipe subsection11 a.

The area 19 with reduced cross-section creates, according to the waterjet pump principle, a flow which sucks additional wort from the areaabove the heat exchanger 5 and conveys it into the inside of the pipesubsection 11 b. In this way, on the one hand, the flow quantity 16 isincreased and, on the other hand, the through flow of the heat exchanger5 is improved, so that the transfer of heat can be improved and foulingin the boiler reduced.

During the operation of the wort pan 1 according to the invention, theinternal boiler 4 of the wort reservoir 3 is heated, whereby the heatingin the heat exchanger 5 ensures a first cycle of the wort 3 along thearrows 9. At the same time, through pump 12 and one or preferablyseveral pipes 11 leading out of the container body 2, wort is sucked fora second cycle along the arrows 16 and pushed into the riser. Becausethe pipe subsection 11 a runs through the heat exchanger 5, the flowcaused by the pump is overlaid by a flow of heat, so that the wort ispushed with increasing energy through the infeed device 18, where inaddition wort is sucked in above the heat exchanger 5. Subsequently, thepumped and sucked in wort is passed through the outlet opening 13 withreduced cross-section against the baffle surface 15 and taken from thereback into the wort reservoir 3 distributed in a bell with a low layerthickness.

FIG. 3 shows a further embodiment of a wort pan 1′ formed according tothe invention, which corresponds to the wort pan 1 in FIGS. 1 and 2apart from the details described in the following, so that these do notneed to be explained again.

The embodiment according to FIG. 3 is particularly intended for theretrofitting of existing beer brewing devices. For this purpose, thepipe 11 of the wort forced flow 10 leading into the base 2 b of thecontainer body 2 is connected via a connector piece 24 with one or moreducts or pipes 5 a of the heat exchanger 5 in such a way that two heatexchanger areas 5.1 and 5.2 essentially separated from each other areformed in the heat exchanger 5. The heat exchanger area 5.1 is connectedas normal with the wort reservoir 3 in the container body 2, whilst theheat exchanger area 5.2 is supplied by the forced flow 10. At the upperoutlet of the heat exchanger 5, a further connector piece 25 is providedwhich passes from the heat exchanger area 5.2 into the pipe subsection11 b. Here, the connector piece 25 can be formed at the same time as thelower pipe piece of the infeed device 18 (see FIG. 2).

The two wort cycles 9 and 16 are also formed with this embodimentaccording to FIG. 3.

As a modification of the described and drawn embodiment, the inventioncan be used with wort pans of any structural design, workingunpressurised or under pressure and with any known construction of aninternal boiler but also, for example, with heated forward flowcontainers or similar.

1. Device for brewing beer, in particular a wort pan (1), comprising acontainer body (2) to receive a wort reservoir (3), an internal boiler(4) located in the container body (2), provided with a heat exchanger(5) and a guiding screen (8), a wort forced flow (10) running throughthe boiler (4) and connected with a pump (12), the wort forced flow (10)containing a thin-layer distributor (17) for the wort having a pipesubsection (11 b) connected with the pump (12) leading above the guidingscreen (8), via an outlet opening (13) with reduced outlet cross-sectioninto the container body (2) and having above the outlet opening (13), aflow-guiding baffle surface (15), at which the wort forced flow arrivesfrom below, to deflect the liquid towards the wort reservoir (3). 2.Device according to claim 1, wherein the thin-layer distributor (18) isconnected with the pump (12) via a pipe subsection (11 a) passingthrough the heat exchanger (5).
 3. Device according to claim 1, whereinthe heat exchanger (5) contains an initial heat exchanger area (5.1) fora heat flow (9) inside the container body (2) and a second heatexchanger area (5.2) assigned to the wort forced flow (10), and that thethin-layer distributor (17) is connected with the pump (12) via thesecond heat exchanger area (5.2).
 4. Device according to claim 1,wherein below the outlet opening (13) and above the heat exchanger (5) afurther infeed device (18) is provided to feed in additional wort intothe pipe subsection (11 b).
 5. Device according to claim 4, wherein theinfeed device (18) contains at least one suction opening (20) in thepipe subsection (11 b) for the automatic suction of the additional wortthrough the flow in the pipe subsection (11 b).
 6. Device according toclaim 5, and wherein an area (19) with a reduced cross-section of thepipe subsection (11 b) is assigned to the suction opening (20). 7.Device according to claim 1, wherein the baffle surface (15) is providedin the outlet opening (13) and rises from there, gently curved, firstmainly in an axial direction and then increasingly in a radial directionoutwards.
 8. Device according to claim 1, wherein the outlet opening(13) is formed as a ring gap.
 9. Device according to claim 1, whereinthe reduced outlet cross-section is formed by the baffle surface (15)dipping into the outlet opening (13).
 10. Device according to claim 1,wherein the size of the outlet cross-section can be adjusted.
 11. Methodfor brewing beer, especially boiling wort, comprising forming a firstand a second wort cycle (9, 16), whereby the first wort cycle (9) is aheat flow cycle and whereby the second wort cycle (16) runs via a wortforced flow (10) with a pump (12) and a thin-layer distributor (17).